FLIGHT/VUELO
New Images and Sounds from Havana and Glasgow.
April 22nd 2006 Gilmorehill G12 Theatre
Pavel Acosta - Daniel Padden
Glenda León - Hanna Tuulikki
Alasdair Roberts - Nicola Atkinson Davidson - The Porch Song Anthology
Alejandro González - Peter Nicholson
Musicial Interludes ( see play list ) by John Cavanagh
Jointly Curated by ( sheep story ) Yuneikys Villalonga & Nicola Atkinson. Davidson
The audience experience this unique event, in which Scottish musicians will play their new, specially commissioned pieces, in collaboration with DVD artworks, created by Scottish based artist and three Cuban visual artists. The event seeks to engage with people from the two countries and from different sectors of the art world, to creatively express new cultural developments within the wider community.
Havana was twinned with Glasgow in December 2002. In June 2004 a
Solo exhibition entitled Pintura del Mar - Sea Painting was held
in the Centre for the Development of Visual Arts in Havana. This
came about from Nicola Atkinson Davidson’s first approaches
to Havana, in turn giving rise to a project entitled, Fluorescence.
The collaboration seeks to expand on the already completed work
by commissioning new works from Cuba and Scotland.
Hybrids/Híbridos
Yuneikys Villalonga
(Albeit with certain unique characteristics, Flight/Vuelo
is the continuation, the Scottish version, of a previous joint venture
by the artist Nicola Atkinson.Davidson and this writer, presented
in Havana: Fluorescencia/Fluorescence. On that occasion fifteen
Cuban visual artists were each given two fluorescent lamps from
the exhibition Pintura de Mar/Sea Painting as the starting point
from where they were to create new pieces. The resulting documentation
was shown in a theatre in Havana, in dialogue with the live music
of Robertico y su grupo, a young Cuban jazz quartet.)
(Aunque con características únicas, Flight/Vuelo constituye
la continuación, la versión escocesa, de una previa
colaboración entre la artista Nicola Atkinson.Davidson y
la autora, presentada en La Habana: Fluorescencia/Fluorescence.
En aquella ocasión les fueron entregadas 2 lámparas
fluorescentes de la exposición Pintura de Mar/Sea Painting
a 15 artistas plásticos cubanos. Este era el pie forzado
para que realizaran nuevas piezas. Su documentación se exhibió
en un teatro de la Habana y estaría dialogando con la música
en vivo de Robertico y su grupo : un joven cuarteto cubano de Jazz.)
Flight as a metaphor is readily associated with the lightness
and levity of things. We tend to take a ‘bird’s eye
view’ of what we are not interested in rather than examining
it in depth. At the same time however, the flight of a bird is always
associated with a certain spatial ubiquity. From on high we make
out locations that are humanly impossible to occupy, or even comprehend.
In many cases (as in the flight of a bird of prey) the view is,
on the contrary, very detailed and acute.
El vuelo como metáfora es fácil de asociar a la ligereza
y liviandad de las cosas. Observamos “a vuelo de pájaro”,
aquello en que no nos interesa del todo profundizar, ahondar. Por
otro lado, el vuelo de un pájaro conecta siempre con cierta
ubicuidad espacial. Desde la altura se divisan locaciones humanamente
imposibles de ocupar, o aprehender a la misma vez. En muchas ocasiones
(como en el vuelo de los halcones) la mirada es, por el contrario,
bien detallada y aguda.
The dancer is not Cuban (what has happened to the still-current
cultural stereotyping that associates the Caribbean with a sense
of rhythm?). Nevertheless, the dance is performed with all of the
requisite charisma and skill it needs, to seduce.
El bailador no es cubano (¿Que ha pasado con los estereotipos
culturales que aún circulan en el mundo sobre la ritmicidad
del Caribe?) Sin embargo, se desempeña con un carisma y destreza
propios, para seducir.
The artworks being created for Flight/Vuelo will not be
presented as contemporary video is conventionally shown today. The
approach is closer to the origins of the cinema. Thus we invite
the Scottish musicians to produce the sound, and to play live, on
the basis of the visual stimulus supplied by the Cubans.
Las obras a realizar para Flight/Vuelo no serán
presentadas a la manera convencional en que se muestra hoy en día
el video contemporáneo. Se acerca más a los orígenes
del cine. Por eso invitamos a músicos escoceses a producir
el sonido, y tocar en vivo, a partir del estímulo visual
de los cubanos.
The dancing man (Steve Gray) is not a stage actor but a dance-lover,
and we are interested in the little personal story that he has to
‘narrate’ through the music. The pieces will not to
be shown in a gallery but in a theatre, which is at the same time
the stage where our protagonist dances. But in D.M, Gilmorehill
G12 does not have its usual black curtains. The piece gives back
to the spectator the architectural qualities of this space: the
stylized stained-glass windows and the light of the subdued (as
compared with Havana) Scottish atmosphere.
Este “dancing man” (Steve Gray) no es un actor
de teatro, sino un aficionado al baile, y nos interesa esta pequeña
historia personal que nos tiene que “narrar” a través
de la música. Las piezas no serían tampoco mostradas
en la galería, sino en un teatro que es a la vez, el escenario
en donde baila nuestro protagonista. Pero en D.M, Gilmorehill G12
no tiene sus acostumbradas cortinas negras. La pieza le devuelve
al espectador las cualidades arquitectónicas de este espacio:
los estilizados vitrales y la luz de la no muy brillante (si se
compara con La Habana) atmósfera escocesa.
For a short time -a time that will have passed after this presentation, as the crow flies- musicians and visual artists of Glasgow and Havana coincided in art. In this collaboration Nicola Atkinson.Davidson and Alasdair Roberts and Rachel Devine with The Porch Song Anthology, Alejandro González and Peter Nicholson, Glenda León and Hanna Tuulikki, Pavel Acosta and Daniel Padden propose new artistic hybrids grounded in experimentation. During this time it will be more than sufficient that you (the reader/spectator) manage to raise -or maintain- your flight so as not to touch down again.
Por un breve tiempo -que habrá pasado después de esta
presentación, a vuelo de pájaro-, coinciden en el
arte músicos y artistas visuales de Glasgow y La Habana.
Nicola Atkinson.Davidson y Alasdair Roberts y Rachel Devine con
The Porch Song Anthology, Alejandro González y , Glenda León
y Hanna Tuulikki, Pavel Acosta y Daniel Padden, en esta colaboración,
nos proponen desde la experimentación nuevos híbridos
artísticos. Sería más que suficiente que durante
este tiempo usted (lector/espectador) lograra alzar -o mantener-
el vuelo para no volver a aterrizar.
Havana, March, 2006 /La Habana, Marzo, 2006
